Furniture for sitting



I Nov. 17, 1970 A. BUZZ! "3,541,313

FURNITURE FOR SITTING Filed Aug. 23, 1968 United States Patent U.S. Cl.297-195 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A piece of furniture to siton has a saddle-shaped seat which is inclined in one direction and apair of knee supports located on both sides of the seat which areinclined in the opposite direction.

This invention relates to furniture and specifically to furniture to siton, like a stool or bench, having a seat mounted on a support; saidsupport may include a plurality of legs or a supporting column withsuitable legs.

It is known that a faulty body posture and sickness resulting therefromare very frequently found with persons engaged in sedatory work. Anumber of propositions have been made to improve the body posture ofsuch persons by improving the construction of the respective furnitureand actually a number of unusual constructions in this field have beenput on the market.

These new constructions, however, are in many instances concerned withthe aesthetic aspect of the respective furniture and refer mostly tofurniture which is not meant to be used, for instance, by workers doingtheir work at a working table or the like.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a piece of furniturefor sitting, specifically a stool, which not only will reduce fatiguebut which will also offer sulficient freedom of movement for the upperpart of the body of the user.

It is a further object of the invention to provide such a piece offurniture which will have a pleasing form and which is suited to benested with other such pieces of furniture for storing. The stool,according to the invention, is constructed in such a way that the spineof the person sitting thereon is supported by the pelvis and that thestomach region of said person is not compressed.

The stool, according to the invention, is provided with a saddle shapedseat and two support platforms located at a lower level on each side ofthe seat and arranged to support the knees of the seated person.

It is preferable to have the ridge of the saddle shaped seat inclineddownward in the direction in which the seated person is facing, whereasthe two knee supports are inclined downward in the opposite directionand are extended to provide also a support for the shins of the user.The line extending along the ridge of the seat and the line extendingalong the knee supports may form an angle of about 45. Both the seat andspecifically the knee and shin supports are padded in a manner generallyknown.

The body weight of a person using the stool, according to the invention,is distributed to a number of surfaces. The way of seating made possibleby the stool, according to the present invention, is a synthesis betweenthe kneeling rest position used, for instance, in many orientalcountries and the sitting rest position generally used by western man.It is also possible to change from the combined sitting-kneelingposition to a purely kneeling position and thus to relieve therespective muscles and to avoid fatigue.

3,541,313 Patented Nov. 17, 1970 The way of sitting, made possible bythe stool according to the present invention, is also advantageous forexpectant mothers.

For better understanding of the invention, reference should be had tothe accompanying drawing showing a preferred embodiment of the inventionof which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective side view of a stool, in accord ance with theinvention, showing also the construction of the back of the stool.

FIG. 2 is a plan of the stool in accordance with FIG. 1.

FIGS. 12 show a stool with a supporting structure 1 having substantiallya reversed U-shaped cross section.

The supporting structure may include four'legs 2.

The saddle shaped seat 3, disposed on the supporting structure, ispadded and is wider in back than in front, as can be seen best in FIG.2.

On both sides of the supporting structure 1 and below the level of theseat 3 are disposed two platforms 4, one on each side of the supportingstructure 1. Each of the platforms 4 is equipped with a padding 5 andserves as knee and shin support for the user of the stool.

As best can be seen in FIG. 1, the top of the saddle shaped seat 3 isinclined downward in the direction in which a person sitting thereonwould face, whereas the padded platforms 4 are sloping upward in thesame direction. Although the most comfortable angle of the inclination0f the seat in relation to the platforms may vary, it has been foundthat an angle of about 45 is usually very comfortable to the user.

Advantageously, the seat 3 is widest in back and narrowest in front sothat the highest part of the seat is at the same time the wider partthereof.

The supporting structure 1 may be of channel-like shape to facilitatethe nesting of a number of stools.

Reinforcing strips 6 may be located on the inside of the supportingstructure to improve the stability of the stool.

What is claimed is:

1. A piece of furniture for sitting thereon comprising a supportstructure, a seat disposed on said structure at a first level and a pairof knee support platforms disposed on said support structure at a secondlevel on both sides of said seat, said second level being lower thansaid first level, said support platforms being inclined upwardly in thedirection in which a person using said seat is facing.

2. A piece of furniture as set forth in claim 1 wherein the seat has asaddle-like shape and the ridge of said seat is inclined in a directionwhich is opposite to the direction of the inclination of the supportplatforms.

3. A piece of furniture as set forth in claim 2 wherein the angle ofinclination of the seat in relation to the knee support platforms isabout 45 4. A piece of furniture as set forth in claim 2 wherein saidseat is widest at its higher end.

5. A piece of furniture as set forth in claim 1 wherein said supportstructure is channel-shaped, having an inverted U-section for nesting aplurality of such furniture pieces.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 48,638 7/1865 Adams 297-4391,065,022 6/1913 Bell 297-195 X 1,213,329 1/1917 Beal 54-44 1,620,4483/1927 Dourdoufis 297l 1,976,170 10/1934 Hoover et al 297439 X 2,069,4762/1937 Keil 297-439 X 2,872,966 2/1959 Chamness 297423 X 3,284,98811/1966 Veach 54-44 JAMES T. MCCALL, Primary Examiner

